The prosecutor's office prevented the transfer of a blocking stake in OJSC Omskelectro to the region

The Omsk prosecutor's office prohibited the transfer of a blocking stake in the municipal OJSC Omskelectro to the regional authorities. The regulatory body considered the authorities’ intention to give 25% plus one share to the region in return for the cable worth 788.8 million rubles received in October last year, the transfer of which to the authorized capital of the enterprise was supposed to prevent the bankruptcy of the JSC, as contrary to federal law. The mayor's office is ready to listen to the prosecutors' arguments. Regional authorities say they “will look for other options to solve the problem.”

The results of the inspection of the municipal OJSC Omskelectro were reported by the city prosecutor's office at a meeting of the Omsk City Council (GC) committee on economic development and municipal property. “The company’s action plan provides for the implementation by the city administration of actions regarding the gratuitous transfer of 25% plus one share of OJSC Omskelectro into the ownership of the Omsk region. It was revealed that the implementation of this transaction does not comply with the requirements of the current federal legislation,” said Olga Arefieva, senior assistant prosecutor of Omsk.

According to the prosecutor's office, the decision on the deal was made on November 29, 2013 at a meeting in Chita, where the issue of uninterrupted functioning of the power supply system in Omsk was discussed. The government of the Omsk region, the city administration, JSC Rosseti, JSC IDGC of Siberia took part in the discussion. In order to settle the debt of Omskelectro to OJSC IDGC of Siberia, which at that time reached 620.9 million rubles, they decided to transfer the electric grid property to the enterprise and take as a basis an action plan to increase the authorized capital of Omskelectro. According to the prosecutor's office, in 2014 the action plan was clarified by the Ministry of Property Relations of the Omsk Region and signed by the city administration.

In October last year, the government of the Omsk region transferred cable networks worth 788.8 million rubles to the authorized capital of Omskelectro, which was in a pre-bankruptcy state. At the same time, the mayor of Omsk, Vyacheslav Dvorakovsky, told Kommersant that an option was being discussed in which the regional authorities would enter the authorized capital of Omskelectro (stakes of at least 25% plus one share). Officials hoped to convince the main creditor of the enterprise, OJSC IDGC of Siberia, to write off the long-term debt of Omskelectro by taking the cable line onto the balance sheet, and thus “close the issue of the possible bankruptcy of the municipal enterprise.” However, IDGC refused the deal, explaining that it contradicts current legislation.

In February of this year, the Governor of the Omsk Region, Viktor Nazarov, discussed with the General Director of IDGC of Siberia OJSC, Konstantin Petukhov, the transfer to the management of the Krasnoyarsk enterprise Omskelectro, which had accumulated 1 billion rubles. debt. Later, the governor stated that he did not intend to transfer Omskelectro.

Director of the Finance Department of the Omsk City Hall, Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC Omskelectro Inna Parygina explained to deputies that “the mayor’s office agreed with the position of the prosecutor’s office and will not implement the part of the plan that caused comments from the supervisory authority.” As a result, the deputies did not discuss the report of the prosecutor's office, but only took the information into account.

Mrs. Parygina explained to Kommersant that if the municipality refuses to transfer part of the shares to the regional authorities, there will be no consequences for the administration and Omskelectro. “The region transferred the cable in accordance with the law, because they do not have the authority to create enterprises in the energy sector. This is our direct responsibility. They wanted to get a share of the shares, but this turned out to be not a completely feasible condition. We have not taken any action in this direction yet and will not,” the vice mayor explained.

The government of the Omsk region commented on the prosecutor’s office’s claims with restraint: “This was one of the possible promptly proposed solutions. We will look for other options to solve the problem."

Honorary power engineer of the Russian Federation Alexander Myasnikov did not rule out that if the municipality did not fulfill the conditions specified in the cable transfer agreement, the region may demand the property back. “Initially, it was strange that the city administration agreed to transfer a blocking stake to the government. It costs much more than one billion rubles. More effective than cable transmission would be government assistance in regulating enterprise tariffs. If the regulator had worked, Omskelektro would have been able to pay off its debts without cable,” said Mr. Myasnikov.

Lawyers believe that the alienation of shares could expose officials to criminal charges. “Omskelektro is on the verge of bankruptcy. In this regard, any transactions for the alienation of property or rights (shares of an OJSC) may turn out to be a crime under Part 2 of Art. 195 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as illegal actions in bankruptcy,” says Sergei Litvinenko, lawyer of the Delovoy Fairvater company, explaining that one must take into account that according to the Omskelektro budget, a financial loss of 529 million rubles is planned for 2015.

Olga Danilova, Omsk

Cable is more expensive than shares